Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
May 22, 2011 at 5:27am
Manal Al Sharif, the mother of a five-month-old baby, was detained yesterday for defying Saudi Arabia's ban on women drivers.
The Women2Drive Facebook page has been taken down.
This is apartheid--the real thing.
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Feb '11
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
I had always heard it was "illegal" for women to drive in Saudi Arabia. To hear that, no, there is no law against it, just a fatwa, is quite chilling.
May '10
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
We lived there as a family for 4 years, my wife and I each had a driver. The average Saudi driver drives like a terrorist, and having a professional driver makes life a lot easier. We all know that young men take chances when driving, speeding, running lights and the like. In Saudi Arabia where there is absolutely no contact allowed between young men and women, where there are no movie theaters or nightclubs, or even social clubs, there is only one way for a young Saudi to burn of some testosterone, at the wheel of a car. Most seem not to grow out of it, I once had a taxi driver run a red lite and say insallah as he did so. The brutal accidents I witnessed over there, almost on a daily basis, were of the type that in the West you are unlucky if you witness one in a lifetime. It's a rights issue, there is no question about that, but I would never allow my wife to drive there, and the added danger of having women sharing city streets with horny young men, well enough said.
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
We were able to make a few excursions into Riyadh and the surrounding area when I was in Saudi Arabia. The treatment of women was appalling. The American servicewomen that were with us had to wear head-to-toe covering and stay close by us at all times while off base, lest they incur the wrath of the religious police and the locals. The treatment of ladies in that region is really one of the saddest things to behold.
Jan '11
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
Time for a Arab Women Spring.
Jul '10
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
Here we are, 91 years passage of the 19th Amendment, concerning ourselves with the barbarism of the backward and calling for change there. Does this legitimize the decades of infiltration and subversion in this country by the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and the Saudi's own Wahhabis? Is the "you live your way and I'll live mine" conservatism that prevailed in the US not all that long ago dead by globalization?
Sep '10
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
I really love it when liberal women tell me that it's just as bad for women in the US.
Aug '10
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
Once I harbored a fantasy that had , at the time, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arriving for a state visit to Saudi Arabia. As she finished the reception line and headed for the limo, she asks the driver for the keys and tells him that "she'll drive".
It was just a fantasy.
May '10
Re: Saudi Women and the Right to Drive
From the picture, I figured she wanted to be the Saudi Amelia Earhart.